It turns out that Operation New Dawn is really going to end at the end of the year.

It's been presumed for some time that some undefined number of troops would remain past the official deadline for leaving the country. Recently, the talk seemed to center on leaving 3,000 or 4,000 troops behind as trainers -- something that Iraq had requested and the United States was willing to do.

But the sides couldn't agree on the crucial question of legal immunity. Iraq, remembering some criminal misbehavior by U.S. troops, insisted on the right to handle criminal matters involving U.S. troops in Iraqi courts. The United States, lacking confidence in the uprightness of the Iraqi justice system, insisted that U.S. troops would be governed by the U.S. military justice system.

"Today I can say that our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays," President Obama said this morning. "After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over."

It turns out that Oregon's 3rd/116th will be Oregon's last significant contribution to the U.S. military initiative in Mesopotamia. The largest element of Oregon Guard soldiers left in the country is a
platoon of 22 guys who are piloting drones from various sites around the
country. And the pace of deployments to Afghanistan is slowing down.

Yet the effects of the war will continue to be felt, in Oregon and elsewhere, for a generation.